


stuck on you

by chymyg (greetingsfrommaars)



Series: prompt bunnies [2]
Category: Produce 101 (TV), Wanna One (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Urban Fantasy, Daniel is beloved by all, First Meetings, Friendship, Gen, Guanlin is a Pentagon stan, Humor, Jaehwan sings, Jihoon is longsuffering, Magical Shenanigans, No Plot/Plotless, Woojin screeches, escalating amounts of cute animals, feels kinda like a college AU?, somewhat cracky, y’know the usual
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-19
Updated: 2019-11-19
Packaged: 2021-02-13 11:42:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,974
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21493726
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/greetingsfrommaars/pseuds/chymyg
Summary: Being a mage in the twenty-first century definitely has its perks, in Jihoon’s humble opinion.But don’t get him wrong – being a mage definitely has its downsides, too. Take this, for example. You’d never find a mundane strolling down the sidewalk holding hands with a near stranger because of some dumb accidental spell. With mundanes, it’d be a social experiment, or something.But here Jihoon is, dragging some random kooky shopkeeper around by the hand on his errand run, all becausesomebodycouldn’t keep his predatory birds under control.
Relationships: Park Jihoon & Kim Jaehwan
Series: prompt bunnies [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1251122
Kudos: 1





	stuck on you

**Author's Note:**

> prompt: urban fantasy, park jihoon, kim jaehwan

Being a mage in the twenty-first century definitely has its perks, in Jihoon’s humble opinion. For one thing, he can use his magic for basic day-to-day tasks. An air spell cushion to hold up his phone. A more reliable dictation-spell quill to dictate essays to, when voice recognition software decides his language for him and turns all of his well-phrased Korean into English nonsense. A gentle levitation spell – for those times he needs to fling his roommates out the door for knocking over a potion yet _again_. They may have a written pact as a formal coven of mages, but there is no mercy for clumsy dumbasses in the land of volatile potions.

On the other hand, Jihoon is infinitely glad to have technology, as a savvy mage of the modern age. No more danger of stumbling into an enchanted vale and losing fifty years at the Court of Faerie, when you’re just a simple mage trying to gather herbs in their natural habitat, because map apps will steer you right! No more scrounging for potion herbs at all, even, because of centralized apothecaries, online ordering, and broom-riding delivery mages. No more pointy hats, because… ew. Thank the gods fashion evolves past egregious mistakes. Even with _his_ face, Jihoon could never pull that off, even with a Snow app filter over it.

All in all, the present-day magic lifestyle is a pretty sweet deal.

Don’t get Jihoon wrong – being a mage definitely has its downsides. Take this, for example. You’d never find a mundane strolling down the sidewalk holding hands with a near stranger because of some dumb accidental spell. With mundanes, it’d be a social experiment, or something.

But here Jihoon is, dragging some random kooky shopkeeper around by the hand on his errand run, all because _somebody_ couldn’t keep his predatory birds under control.

Namely, the least professional “professional” mage Jihoon has ever seen.

Maybe Jihoon should rewind for a bit.

-

See, several hours earlier, Jihoon awakes to the dulcet tones of his roommate screaming along to Pentagon’s new mini-album. Jihoon appreciates a solid Hui-produced track as much as any other intellectual, but not before he’s gotten his much-needed sleep. It takes a lot of rest to be as dysfunctional in class as he is. Fortunately, a few minutes later, Jinyoung stalks to Guanlin’s room, yells for a minute, and throws down a sound barrier spell at his door. At least one of Jihoon’s roommates knows not to disturb the morning pre-alarm stupor.

Half an hour passes. Jihoon gets up, styles his hair into place (with a sticking charm to keep it there), and bewitches the kitchen appliances to make breakfast. Blissfully unaware, he’s looking forward to a chill day. With only a single class in the afternoon, his schedule is open for all kinds of things: running errands, getting ahead on homework, starting a new game… loafing about like the unhurried final-year student he is.

Halfway through his rice with soup and side dishes, Jihoon learns that Jinyoung did not put up a sound barrier at Guanlin’s door. Jinyoung had only just started the unit on barriers in his spatial magic course. Jinyoung, in fact, knew only a single barrier spell, which not only had no effect on sound whatsoever, but also blocked the passage of light, heat, and physical objects, such as annoying roommates. Guanlin was trapped.

For some reason, Jinyoung had not brought up this issue with Jihoon until five minutes before the younger mage had class.

Jinyoung had tried all of the basic counter-spells he remembered. Then he dug through the current chapter of his textbook, and he looked for tutorials on the hidden magical web. Unfortunately, he couldn’t make any sense of the material his class hadn’t covered yet. He even tried throwing a massive textbook he didn’t need anymore at the barrier, but it rebounded and nearly broke his nose. Meanwhile, Guanlin was nowhere near the level of magic to dismantle someone else’s barrier, and Jinyoung was too stubborn to let him simply escape through the window. Jinyoung had to fix his mistake himself – until five minutes before class, when it became Jihoon’s problem, apparently. By then, it was too late in the morning for Guanlin to float down from his fifth-floor window without someone noticing from the street.

Sometimes, Jihoon really wonders why he agreed to form a coven where _he_ would serve as the de facto leader, as the oldest and “wisest” and “most practical”. He probably got carried away by the pretty words about warm camaraderie and collective learning. Or Jinyoung and Guanlin’s cute prepubescent faces. Either way, Jihoon is now honor-bound to guide their magical journey, to come to their aid whenever they screw things up. His magic literally runs entertwined with theirs, thanks to their pact. It would throttle his power if something happened to one of them.

Also, Jihoon genuinely cares about their wellbeing as his best friends or something. Go figure.

Because Jihoon is a generous and kind coven leader, he immediately goes back to his room to dig out his own spatial magic textbook, with its cheatsheet in the back. He can handle an introductory-level barrier. Probably. For the same reason, he doesn’t hex Jinyoung when the younger mage asks him for another favor on top of the crisis Jihoon is already handling.

“I would have had time,” Jinyoung insists. “If this hadn’t happened.”

“If you hadn’t put our roommate in solitary confinement for the day by _accident_.”

“It’s not solitary confinement. He can still talk to us. He can shout out his window at people!”

“Jinyoung,” Jihoon says. “What if our cute maknae wants to make friends? How will he make friends at school if he’s grounded?”

“They can come to the walkway under his window,” Jinyoung says. “It’ll be like Rapunzel.”

“Does that make you the wicked witch?”

“Jihoooon,” Jinyoung whines. “C’mon, I have to leave now, but I can’t go to my air magic class later without the supplies. You know how Professor Lee is.”

Jihoon glowers at him.

Jinyoung tries to do aegyo in response. He should know better than to try that on Park Jihoon, veteran innovator of aegyo. Even so, Jihoon will allow it.

“You owe me fried chicken, Bae Jinyoung. Two boxes. No, three.”

Jinyoung grins and sprints for the door. “Thanks, _Hoonie_~” he yells over his shoulder.

Honestly, what’s a coven leader got to do around here to get some respect?

-

And so, Jihoon spends two hours dismantling his roommate’s mistake, reaffirms his position as Guanlin’s number one hero (your spatial incantations looked so cool, hyung! – you couldn’t see them through the barrier, Guanlin), and passes his entire morning of freedom in the service of his inexperienced coven.

At eleven AM, he finds himself in an animal magic shop, on Jinyoung’s errand. Jihoon would have put in a delivery order to avoid having to walk, but Jinyoung’s air magic class takes place right after lunch – not enough time for a delivery mage. And even Jihoon admits that no one should have to face Professor Lee without mental preparation, let alone without the supplies required in bold on his semester syllabus.

Jihoon remembers that class, regretfully. He was a young, impressionable second-year at the time. His partner was some kind of air magic prodigy, doing casual somersaults through the air before Jihoon had even managed to conjure up a light breeze. Once Jihoon _had_ successfully summoned a full blustery wind, he nearly broke his cute face trying to follow his partner’s instructions. Jihoon will never float so much as a meter off the ground ever again. He can’t risk it.

Jihoon hasn’t attempted that type of air magic in a while, needless to say, so he hasn’t needed raptor quills for a couple of years. He has no idea where to find them in the local shop. Thus, like any well-adjusted young adult, he wanders into a random aisle to put off asking an employee for as long as possible.

This aisle seems promising. Echidna quills, fish gills, eye of newt, toe of frog… snake scales, dragon scales, crocodile scales, skink scales…

Dang it. He’s in the reptile section.

“Hey, can I help you?”

Curses. The salespeople have found him.

A smiley guy with wide shoulders grins at Jihoon. “Hi, I’m Daniel!”

I can read your nametag, _Kang Daniel_, Jihoon doesn’t say.

“I run this shop with my coven. Are you looking for something?”

Daniel’s eye smile is exquisite. Well, two can play at that game. Jihoon turns toward Daniel, showing off his profile at his cutest angle from the right side. He doesn’t know if Daniel is attentive enough to appreciate it, but still, Jihoon has to assert his dominance somehow.

“Yes, actually. I’m looking for some raptor quills? For dynamic air magic,” Jihoon explains, tilting his head charmingly.

“Sure thing! Right this way.” Daniel leads him towards the front of the shop. Two Samoyed puppies appear from behind Jihoon and dash after Daniel, their tongues lolling carelessly. They’re almost too cute for Jihoon to handle, but he keeps his expression under control. Establish dominance first; pet adorable puppies later.

Three fluffy cats emerge from the next aisle. They fall into step behind the puppies, and not one of them spares Jihoon a glance. What is this witchcraft?

By the time they reach the cashier, they’ve been joined by five birds and a raccoon. The first bird had scared the crap out of Jihoon by squawking directly in his ear. By the fourth bird, Jihoon had given up on his quest for dominance. Clearly he had stumbled into Snow White’s forest meadow, or something, and Daniel was the princess himself.

Jihoon wonders if Daniel whistles while he works.

The guy at the cash register sees them coming and flashes them a crooked smile. One of his teeth sticks out; it’s cute. If this guy is some kind of animal whisperer too, Jihoon may as well give up all the way and go home. There’s no way he can beat _two _smiley Snow Whites in personal appeal, even with his aegyo.

“Woojinnie! Just the mage I wanted to see!” Daniel says.

Cute name, too.

“Who else were you expecting to see at the cash register? GD?” Woojin snarks back.

“Our new friend here –” Daniel slings an arm around Jihoon’s shoulder, whoa – “needs some raptor quills. Be a pal and fetch them, Park Woojin!”

“Stop manhandling our customer, Kang Daniel.”

Daniel withdraws his arm, chuckling sheepishly. “Sorry about that.” Jihoon blinks furiously. Daniel turns back to Woojin. “But still… be a pal and fetch them?”

“Sure, Daniel,” Woojin says, rolling his eyes. “You might want to plug your ears,” he tells Jihoon.

Jihoon is intrigued. Is Woojin about to perform a summoning with his own animal-whispering technique? Daniel’s seems to be simply existing as Kang Daniel, but maybe Woojin’s style is a Disney-musical-style siren song that compels you to sing along, or something equally dangerous.

Jihoon holds his breath and listens.

An unearthly screech rips out of Woojin’s throat and splits Jihoon’s skull. Jihoon stands in a daze, for a second – is this _real_? Is Woojin a screaming void in disguise? But then Woojin does it _again_, and Jihoon has to acknowledge that, yes, Woojin must be a demon assuming human form, and yes, he absolutely wants to plug his ears.

A commotion of frantic wings erupts from a back corner. Jihoon whirls around to see a frankly terrifying amount of giant taloned birds swooping over the shelves, headed directly for the cash register. Unexpectedly, he also hears the sound of approaching feet in the aisle. Did Woojin summon every animal 20kg and up in the store? As the raptors land on perches around the checkout counter, the source of the clattering feet rounds the corner of the nearest aisle and comes into view. Jihoon watches with wide eyes – what kind of creature could make that much noise by itself passing through the store? A griffin? A sphynx? A manticore??

It’s… a human. In ridiculous, clunky boots and an atrocious stained sweatshirt. With a guitar in hand, for some reason?

“Never fear, the great Kim Jaehwan is here!” The newcomer sings in intimidatingly high falsetto.

“I called for the major raptors, not a major nuisance, Jaehwan,” Woojin says.

“Jaehwan! Come help this customer with us,” Daniel says.

“Sure thing, I’m always glad to sing,” Jaehwan improvises on a jazzy scale. He walks up to the counter and starts performing an Adele cover while Woojin collects the raptor quills.

Jihoon isn’t sure how this qualifies as helping him, but he acknowledges Jaehwan’s smooth vocals.

Jihoon looks at Woojin curiously. “So, are the birds your specialty? Since we came to find you…”

Woojin laughs. “You could say that. I did actually study aviary magic as my specialization, but you could also say that _some people_ are irrationally afraid of handling the birds… right, Daniel?” He gives the other shopkeeper a pointed look.

“Hey!” Daniel protests.

“You know it’s true~” Jaehwan croons, fighting a smile. “Those sparrows are too much for you~”

Daniel slaps weakly at Jaehwan’s face, flushing.

Jihoon is not impressed.

“Hey, bugs are scary! And the birds _eat_ bugs!” Daniel says.

“That means they’re protecting you from the scary bugs. We’ve gone over this,” Woojin says, rolling his eyes.

“No, it means they’re up a level a scariness and even more terrifying,” Daniel insists.

“Well, chickens eat bugs, right?” Jihoon points out. He ignores Daniel’s answering shudder. “And you eat chicken. That makes you the ultimate winner, in the end. The top of the food chain.”

“The top of the food pyramid,” Jaehwan agrees, reaching for a cat toy on the display behind Daniel.

“That’s not how the food pyramid works, Jaehwan,” Woojin says. He locks eyes with Jaehwan, and an understanding passes between them. They must debate this with Daniel a lot, if they’re this in sync to heckle him about it. Maybe Jihoon should grab his quills and escape before a full argument breaks out.

“Daniel! Watch out, there’s a fly!” Woojin yells.

Daniel jumps up in a panic, moving his head right into position for Jaehwan to tickle his ear with the cat toy. With a strangled cry, Daniel leaps back into the display. Boxed spells spill onto the floor, and Daniel trips on one – grabs at the shelf for a handhold – pulls down the _entire display_ with him – oh crap, Jihoon should move –

A firm hand yanks Jihoon back, and the shelf misses his pretty face by a centimeter.

Daniel lets out a panicked shout before he hits the floor – before the shelf hits him. His full furry entourage mobilizes to help him: eagles swoop in, the cats sprint at him, and one of the Samoyeds almost bowls Jihoon over. Jihoon can barely make out what’s happening through the confusion of wings and furry legs, but he can see the glittering dust of at least 10 boxed spells bursting against the animals and the floor and the counter. Woojin and Jaehwan are shouting into the din of an entire animal store freaking out.

Jihoon needs a nap.

When the spell dust settles, Daniel comes into view, crouching carefully with the shelf leaning on his arms. A precarious tower of small woodland creatures holds up the shelf beside him. The exploded spell boxes are clearly starting to take effect. Half of the animals are now rainbow-colored. Two of the cats seem to be stuck together, scrambling to pull apart on the floor. One of the puppies opens her mouth to release a disturbingly human-like yodeling sound, and Jaehwan winces at Jihoon’s side. The motion drags Jihoon’s hand up, and it finally registers that Jaehwan must be his timely savior from impending doom. If Jaehwan hadn’t grabbed Jihoon’s hand and pulled him from danger, who knows what would have happened? Jihoon was a little judgmental of the guy’s less-than-pristine appearance before, sure. But now he’s infinitely grateful.

He turns to Jaehwan as Woojin runs to pick up the mess. “Hey, thanks for the save. I really owe you one.” Jihoon throws in an innocent, wide-eyed look for good measure.

“Oh yeah, no problem,” Jaehwan chuckles. He moves to grab his guitar, the movement pulls Jihoon’s hand along.

“You know you can let go now, right?” Jihoon smiles nervously. Is Jaehwan some kind of hand-holding weirdo? “I think we’re safe from Daniel now.”

“Huh?” Jaehwan blanches, and Jihoon follows his gaze down to their hands. Still intertwined. Now trembling.

Jaehwan shakes their clasped hands with widening eyes. With a cringe, Jihoon makes to pull his hand away from this inconsiderate creep, but… he can’t move his fingers.

“Oh no.”

In front of them, Daniel and Woojin have finally righted the display shelf, the puppy still yodeling at their feet. They turn to Jaehwan, ready to scold him for not helping, but Jaehwan cuts them off.

“Guys… we have a little problem.” Jaehwan wiggles their hands nervously.

His coworkers immediately drop the spell boxes they’re tidying and walk over in concern.

Jaehwan holds up their hands with a sheepish expression. “So… uh… we’re kinda stuck?”

Jihoon watches the shock spread across their faces. Daniel already looks ready to cry with guilt for knocking over the display. But they’ll be fine, right? Surely one of them knows the counterspell?

“Guys? Do we have the counterspell for this?” Jaehwan’s voice rises in alarm.

A beat passes.

Jihoon can already read the answer in their faces.

“Oh _gods_, no.”

Woojin gives him a grim face. “Yeah.”

This is going to be a long day.

-

By the time he leaves for his single afternoon class – annoying shopkeeper in tow and all – Jihoon is ready to hex himself into tomorrow, just to reach the end of this that much faster. He’s ready to toss Jaehwan in a cauldron and _stew him for potions_. Sure, causing magical bodily harm could land him with a revoked magical license, but Jihoon thinks the authorities would understand.

“C’mooon, do you really have to go? You’re not one of those boring straight-laced students who shows up early every day, are you? We could go somewhere way better than boring old _class_. We could go for churros! Hey, don’t you want churros? Everyone wants churros. Even birdbrain Woojin–”

“Gods, do you ever shut up?” Jihoon snaps.

“Oh, rude. You’re so mean to me, new best friend.” Jaehwan shakes his head sadly.

“I told you not to call me that.”

“Well, until you give me something better to call you, that’s what you are to me, new best friend! It was high time I replaced Daniel.” Jaehwan nods with self-satisfaction. “Besides, we’ve already been mistaken for a couple in a supermarket. Clearly we’re past casual levels of friendship now.”

“Don’t remind me,” Jihoon sighs. The lady at the supermarket had been so genuinely supportive, too. Cooed over how cute they were and everything. And she was a mundane, so Jihoon couldn’t even tell her it was a freak magic accident, not a domestic-partner supermarket date.

“I have your friend’s approval, too. Soon I’ll win over your entire coven, and then you’ll have to accept me as your new best friend,” Jaehwan continues cheerfully.

Jihoon shudders. “Jinyoung is a traitor and the worst coven member known to magekind. I always knew he’d sell my soul to the animal patron deities for a single package of raptor quills one day.”

“He was weirdly happy to see those raptor quills,” Jaehwan agrees.

“Happy to see the quills, and happy to see _you_ physically attached to _me_ indefinitely, like the inconsiderate brat he is.” Jihoon scowls. He’ll switch out Jinyoung’s saltpeter jars for salt and screw up all of the kid’s potions for the next week. That’ll teach Jinyoung to laugh at his coven leader’s expense.

“Aw, he was happy to see me?” Jaehwan grins, stupidly.

Jihoon rolls his eyes. “Anyway, he has Fundamentals of Air Magic with Professor Lee right now. That’s why he was so happy we made it with the quills in time.”

To Jihoon’s surprise, Jaehwan visibly cringes. “Oof, Professor Lee? Alright, I gotcha. That class was hell on my sleeping schedule.”

Jaehwan doesn’t seem too enthusiastic about coming to Jihoon’s class, now, either, Jihoon notices. He narrows his eyes at Jaehwan. “Oh yeah? What about Advanced Locomotion, then?”

Jaehwan groans theatrically. “Don’t even get me started on Advanced Locomotion. The quizzes were so unfair, and I really think Professor Park had it out for me. She made me demonstrate a fully choreographed incantation in class one time! Who does that?”

_Aha_, Jihoon thinks. “Pretty inconvenient that we’re heading to her class right now, huh?” He says breezily.

Jaehwan jumps on the bait. “I know! It’s really inconvenient, and Professor Park is actually terrifying. She strikes fear in the heart of any mage. She cold-calls you for intimidating spellwork and actually judges you if you can’t do it! Trust me, I would know.” Jaehwan shakes his head dolefully. “Trust me, new best friend. It’d be way better for my – I mean, our – mental health if we don’t go.”

“Sounds to me like you’re just a coward trying to avoid a perfectly competent teacher to protect his feelings.”

“Noooo,” Jaehwan whines. “You can’t make me go. We’re besties now. Your coven loves me.”

“My coven loves seeing me suffer, and you’re providing free entertainment. Get your facts straight.”

“I let you finish my chicken at lunch!”

“You were going to throw it away! Do you have any idea how wasteful that is?” Jihoon turns on Jaehwan with a furious look, fists sparking with instant magic. (If it was slightly too much food, and Jihoon now feels like bursting at the seams, well, Jaehwan doesn’t need to know.)

“Okay, okay!”

Jihoon unclenches his fists and turns away. Better to save his energy for a long ordeal of an afternoon. He’ll have to sit through class with this loud rando hanging on – a loud rando Professor Park hates, apparently – and then run more errands while dragging Jaehwan around like dead weight. Whether he studies or games later, it’ll probably come with hours of commentary from this shopkeeper who wants to sabotage Jihoon’s education and has probably never touched a controller in his life. He probably thinks Pokemon Go is still the big new thing.

At least Daniel and Woojin gave him the day off. Jihoon could never last through six hours of vicarious customer service. Five minutes was enough to deafen him, knock him over, and then saddle him with _Jaehwan_. No thanks.

Jaehwan gives him a wide grin when Jihoon glances over.

Nice try, bozo. Acting friendly won’t get you out of Advanced Locomotion.

“Hey, new best friend. Buddy. Pal.” Jihoon fake-retches. “I have an idea!”

“Does it involve singing? I told you, I’m not doing a love duet with you.”

‘It would move the merchants into giving us free stuff! I told you, merchants are suckers for a sweet romance. Wait, no, that’s not my idea. My idea is to go pay my old friends a visit! They run a shop specializing in counterspells and fixing messes. They should totally be able to get us out of our little pickle.”

“Yeah, our _tiny_ problem,” Jihoon snorts, but he considers it. A specialist’s eye usually helps – it’d be great to get another opinion anyway, instead of waiting it out. “That’s not a bad suggestion, actually.”

“I’m wounded. You wouldn’t trust me, your best friend?” Jaehwan tries a pout on him. Jihoon is unmoved. “Damn, that’s cold.”

Jihoon rolls his eyes. Jaehwan’s a million years too early to challenge the aegyo master. “Whatever. Let’s go see your friends after class.”

“Right on, new best friend!”

“Stop calling me that.”

“Whatever you say, my forever buddy.” Jaehwan punctuates this with a smarmy wink.

Another hour of this, and then Jihoon has to meet more weirdos like Jaehwan? Kill him now.

-

“Jaehwan, you know I care about you and your wellbeing, but… you’re kind of an idiot.”

Even if the words aren’t directed at him, Jihoon feels guilty when he sees the nice man’s disappointed face.

“C’mon, Minhyun. I know we messed up, but aren’t you glad to see me?” Jaehwan spreads one hand up into a jazz hand – the other is still attached to Jihoon, who is definitely not participating in anything of the sort. “It’s Kim Jaehwan, in the flesh!”

“Yeah, but only because you need something from us again,” the short guy – Sungwoon – snorts from the side. Jaehwan giggles nervously.

“You come to my shop,” Minhyun continues. Sungwoon makes a noise of protest. “You come to our shop, with a nice young man in hand,” Minhyun nods at Jihoon, “telling us you’re in a bind. Telling us you had an _accident_ with a boxed spell. You ask us to figure out the counterspell on the spot, and you don’t even have the packaging?”

Sungwoon waggles a finger at them. Behind him, the third shopkeeper, Jisung, gives Jaehwan a deeply judgmental look. He lays on the unspoken disapproval thick enough for it to practically congeal in the air, a festering, shameful thing. Maybe if Jihoon could channel just a fraction of that aura, his coven would actually listen to him for once. Its motivating power is undeniable – especially when combined with a tirade of logic like the one Minhyun’s been on for the past several minutes.

“I know you’ve been busy running that menagerie with the guys, but you can’t do this! You’re the owner of the establishment. You keep the peace. You maintain the goods. You help the customers however you can!”

“I do help the customers however I can! I helped that old lady last week, and I even threw in a heartfelt serenade for free!”

“Yeah, Minhyun, why don’t you ever serenade our customers with your sweet ballad voice?” Sungwoon chimes in. “That’d help them calm down.”

“Kim Jaehwan. You’re magically bound to a stranger – a stranger who is also your customer. It’s _your _fault for setting off Daniel. It’s been hours. You barely know what spell it is. _We _barely know what spell it is, and we’re the experts. Where are all your brain cells?”

Oof. Jihoon will be delighted to never have to hear that again.

“It’s just like old times.” Sungwoon wipes away a hypothetical tear.

Jihoon gives him a quizzical look.

Jisung steps forward benevolently. “Minhyunie and Jaehwanie went to school together. Shared every class, even!”

“Every single one,” Minhyun agrees.

“I’m so sorry,” Jihoon tells him.

They both ignore Jaehwan’s wounded cry. “Don’t worry about it,” Minhyun says. “It was a learning experience for everyone involved.”

At that, Sungwoon leans over to rib Jaehwan again, and Jisung asks politely about Jihoon’s studies. Just some friendly small talk. Following some more pleasantries (Jaehwan mocks Sungwoon and almost gets kicked for it), Jihoon and his tagalong say their goodbyes, leave the shop, and make to cut through the park.

It’s a bright, blue-sky kind of day. Delivery mages zoom overhead under heavy glamours. On the ground, the people of the city are out in full force, flinging frisbees, unpacking picnics, jogging with their dogs. Jihoon can almost forget their current predicament, in the face of so much energy.

On second thought, someone might coo at them for holding hands again. Never mind.

Jaehwan clears his throat. “So, I forgot to ask. What’s your specialization? Magically speaking, I mean?”

“Yeah, I guess yours was pretty obvious from the beginning,” Jihoon snorts. It makes sense that they forgot to go over such basic personal information. “But, uh, magically speaking – I don’t really have one?” Jihoon hates the way it comes out like a question. “I just haven’t figured it out yet, I guess.”

Jaehwan hums. “That’s totally valid. I wouldn’t have found mine during school if I hadn’t gone to this one event during my third year. It was this seminar on collaborative spellwork set up through singing, like, as a chorus. Really cool stuff!”

“Wait, you’re not a wildlife mage?”

Jaehwan gives a wry smile. “Not originally, no. I’m a music mage, technically. Couldn’t you tell from my sweet tunes?”

That does make a lot of sense, Jihoon will admit.

“Yeah, I’m just doing this job to stick with Daniel and Woojin,” Jaehwan continues. “Since they both specialize in animal stuff, and I’ve got to keep them out of trouble, y’know?”

Jihoon does know. He wouldn’t be struggling through sharing an apartment with Jinyoung and Guanlin if he didn’t understand this.

“Covens, am I right?” Jihoon jokes.

“Dude, you’re so right, you have no idea,” Jaehwan laughs.

At that, Jihoon launches into a retelling of his eventful morning and his chaotic friends. He was just a simple coven leader, trying to live his best unhurried final-year life – Jaehwan nods sagely at this – when his friends rudely burst in with their impenetrable barriers and inescapable rooms. What was he, a dutiful leader, to do, besides get them out of a mess of their own making? And then on top of that, Jinyoung had the nerve to treat him like an errand boy. Unbelievable.

“That’s rough, buddy,” Jaehwan says. He’s actually been an excellent listener, nodding in the right places, cackling when Jihoon reenacts Jinyoung flinging half his room at the barrier. Maybe Jihoon was a little quick to judge him.

Jaehwan responds in kind with his own wild yarn of peril and friendship – “so, ferrets do this wiggly war dance when threatened, right?” “_What_?” – where both Daniel and Woojin wreak havoc on the shop in their own special ways. (Daniel specializes in starting stampedes of adoring animals; Woojin starts riots by trying to carry too many creatures at once.)

“But only I can calm everyone down with just the beginning of a chord progression on my guitar!” Jaehwan grins proudly. “The guys taught me basic wildlife magic so I could apply it in my magic, turn it into this cool new hybrid. It’s really cool. Hey, have you tried wildlife magic before?”

“Uh, nah. I went with Jinyoung one time when he wanted to find a familiar, but we left early ’cause he was too shy.” That had been kinda sad. Jihoon had been really bonding with some Pomeranians.

“Oh, cool. We don’t really have familiars, since, y’know, we live in a shop full of uncontracted animals, but you could totally bring Jinyoung by sometime to see if he feels a connection. I can even play a song for them beforehand so they don’t mob him and make him feel overwhelmed,” Jaehwan volunteers.

“That’d be great, actually, thanks. I’ll bring it up with him sometime.”

“No problemo, new friendo!”

Jihoon rolls his eyes. “So, is your hybrid magic mainly used for calming stuff? Since you have to keep the shop in order and everything.”

A beat passes.

Jihoon turns to a silent Jaehwan in confusion, only to find the shopkeeper already grinning at him. Jaehwan spreads his hands excitedly.

“Wanna see?”

-

Jihoon regrets a few things in his life. Basic things, like lying to his mom about the disappearing cookies when he was six, or that one time he tried to gulp down the world’s spiciest noodles in five minutes on a dare, or even failing to include a clause in the coven contract that would turn Jinyoung and Guanlin into his magical minions forevermore. Let’s face it, the list of inadvisable things Jihoon has done in his lifetime runs pretty long for someone as cute and charming as he is.

Even this is new for him, though.

A pigeon divebombs him with a feral cry and just barely misses his lovely tousled locks.

Jihoon certainly never foresaw himself accidentally goading a magical musician into hyping up the entire park to the point of full animal riot mode. Most people don’t. But hey, you never know how it’ll go until you’re sprinting through a public park at top speed, with the pets of half the city’s population in hot pursuit.

“Jihoon – I really – don’t think I can keep this up anymore,” Jaehwan puffs at his side.

“Kim Jaehwan, if you give up here, I’m going to drag your floppy body behind me and deliver your bird-poop-stained remains back to Woojin and Daniel, I swear to all the gods in heaven and earth.”

“Dang, that’s a serious oath. Gonna have to hold you to that – hrrgh!”

An adorable French bulldog catches Jaehwan’s shoelace and yanks it back. Jaehwan goes down.

“I’m done for!” he wails. “Go on without me!”

“Like hell,” Jihoon retorts. “You’re stuck with me, whether you like it or not!”

With that, he draws on the review session of six hours ago and throws down a barrier. One that blocks out no sound whatsoever, but holds back light, heat, and about two hundred dogs ready to lick your face off.

At least trapping light in there with them means the mundanes can’t see what Jihoon does next.

In the brief moment he’s bought them, Jihoon pulls out an extra raptor quill and shouts a quick incantation. Before Jaehwan can even catch his breath, they’re tumbling through the air on a gale-force wind.

Jihoon has never flown two people before.

Jaehwan dangles from Jihoon’s hand, several stories above the ground, screaming for all he’s worth. It’s a really long scream. Jaehwan’s lung capacity is impressive.

Jihoon’s air magic control is not. They crash-land on a side street behind a Chinese restaurant. Jihoon barely switches from an air flight spell to an air cushion spell in time, but they manage not to break their faces on the pavement.

Jaehwan immediately sags against the nearest building in relief. Jihoon joins him and dispels the summoned wind in a rush of frantic air.

The breeze barrels off down the street, kicking off a swirl of discarded food wrappers in its wake.

Jaehwan sighs. “Oof. Best workout I’ve had in months. Best breath control practice, too. Did the barrier mute out my screaming?”

Jihoon waves a hand. “No, but don’t worry about it. The mundanes’ll think it’s a misfired missile or something.”

Jaehwan nods. “Alright. Cool cool. Hey, do you mind if we just chill a bit? I need a second.”

“Go ahead.”

“Cool, thanks.”

Jaehwan unclasps their hands. Leaning his head back against the concrete, he tries to wipe the sweat from his previously trapped hand on his jeans.

Jeez, Jihoon’s hand feels really sweaty too. He gives it a quick wipe on his sweater, hoping the irregular patterns will hide the stain, then turns his attention to his hair. It’d come loose from the sticking charm, so he’s glad he now has both hands free to fix it – wait a second.

Jaehwan has his eyes closed and head tilted back, oblivious in his obvious relief.

“Kim Jaehwan.”

“Yeah?”

Jihoon turns slowly, fury rising beneath the surface. “How long have we been unstuck?”

“Oh, maybe an hour or two. Why?”

“And you didn’t _tell me_?”

“I was waiting to see if you’d notice! You have to admit, your annoyed face was pretty funny. Hey, hey, don’t look like that. All in good fun, yeah? We’re friends! Now, Jihoon, let’s talk about this –”

Jihoon summons flames to his hands and lets out a war cry.

“Okay, never mind, I think it’s time we parted ways. It’s been great hanging with you, but Dan and Woojin are expecting me home, and you know how unsafe it is on the streets these days. People running around with fire in their hands – eek!”

Jaehwan takes off down the block. He’s screaming.

Jihoon gets him with a Jelly-Legs Jinx, and Jaehwan goes down. He falls silent as Jihoon approaches, gathering magic in his hand.

An audible gulp. “Uh, mercy?”

Jaehwan receives the unhinged smile that request deserves.

Jihoon has never been happier to be a mage than in this moment.

**Author's Note:**

> \- if you can guess the tiny cameo you win my heartfelt surprise and delight  
\- weirdly inspired by the Wanna One Go episode where they get tied together  
\- this characterization of Jihoon is ridiculously fun to write  
\- I think I starting writing this a little over a year ago? it's been a long time coming lol (but we're here now, and we bout to set the roof on fire baby)


End file.
